17 August 2012

The Milky Way our Mother Galaxy

The Milky Way our Mother Galaxy

The Milky Way, Kustavi, Finland.

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Earth.
This name derives from its appearance as a dim "milky" glowing band
arching across the night sky, in which the naked eye cannot distinguish
individual stars.
The term "Milky Way" is a translation of the Classical Latin via lactea, from the Hellenistic Greek γαλαξίας κύκλος (pr. galaxías kýklos, "milky circle"). The Milky Way appears like a band because it is a disk-shaped structure
being viewed from inside. The fact that this faint band of light is
made up of stars was proven in 1610 when Galileo Galilei used his telescope to resolve it into individual stars. In the 1920s, observations by astronomer Edwin Hubble showed that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies.

My name is Stefan Lamoureux, I am the president of the Astronomy Club Toutatis, Kustavi, Finland. We organize all kinds of activities concerning astronomy and night observation at our Observatory in Kustavi, Finland. Also we travel around the world to visit the astronomy scene and write about it. Welcome to our blog and enjoy the astronomy behind it!